The Taste of Home Cookbook: Best Loved Classics and All New Favorites

GREENDALE, Wis., Nov. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Sometimes change is not just good – it's delicious: Taste of Home, the #1 cooking magazine in the world, announces a mouthwatering makeover of its landmark bestseller, The Taste of Home Cookbook, New 3rd Edition. And this is one extreme makeover, culinary style. Of the 1,563 recipes and variations, more than 1,200 are new favorites and modern and fresh approaches to the tried-and-true. There are also new features and tips (like a "top three tips" on each chapter divider), as well as hundreds of new photos (more than half of them stunning finished food shots). But what hasn't changed is the source of all these recipes: Taste of Home's editors and its legion of real home cooks that make cooking, caring, and sharing so delightful.

Simply put, The Taste of Home Cookbook, New 3rd Edition still celebrates the delight and comfort we find at the table, the connection between food and family, and the different ways we live, love, and eat. And while choosing what recipes to keep from the "best of the best" that were selected years ago for The Taste of Home Cookbook was not easy, it was necessary.

"Choosing between recipes can be like choosing between children – you can't see one as 'better' than another. But we needed a new collection of recipes that reflected the evolving tastes and needs of American home cooks and still said 'Taste of Home,'" says Catherine Cassidy, editor-in-chief of Taste of Home, "This third edition needed to embrace traditional and new flavors for any meal or situation. It had to have dishes suitable for different health and diet needs – but still be food people would actually eat, would work every time, and that used easy-to-find, affordable, everyday ingredients. And it needed to be as fast and light as it was slow and buttery."

That explains the all-new opening bonus chapter of The Taste of Home Cookbook, New 3rd Edition: 100 30-minute light entrees, every one of as tempting as their heavier brethren like Chicken Artichoke Pasta, Sweet 'n' Sour Pork Chops, and Wasabi Beef Fajitas.

In the 22 remaining chapters, there are lighter and lots of quick recipes – 360 of them take 30-minutes or less – to go with the best-loved classics. But like those fajitas in the bonus chapter, the new favorites are also more international and use more diverse (yet widely available) ingredients than ever before. So, a classic Irish Stew is now joined by a West African Beef Stew. Parmesan Pork Roast and Harvest Stuffed Chicken may be familiar but you'll also discover Parmesan, Walnut & Arugula Baskets and Caribbean Jerk Chicken. And in The Taste of Home Cookbook, New 3rd Edition, Jamaican Shrimp, Sage Polenta, Stuffed Baby Red Potatoes, and Fiesta Lasagna feel right at home, while Classics like Baked Ziti, Deviled Eggs, Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes, German Chocolate Cake, and Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding have traditional and new variations that show how to take a basic recipe and switch it up for a different flavor to encourage new tastes or the tastes that suit their families.

Of course, not everything has changed about the cookbook that made the previous editions such beloved bestsellers. The 5-ring binder still lies flat when open and includes 2 snap-in splashguards to protect the pages from food spills. There are hundreds of tips, illustrated techniques, and how-to's from Taste of Home readers and the experts on our Test Kitchen staff. Each of the 23 chapters has tab dividers for quick reference, and there are complete nutrition facts on each recipe so readers can quickly identify the recipes that meet their dietary needs. And every recipe has been tasted by the professional home economists in the Taste of Home test kitchen, guaranteeing that absolutely every recipe will work in your own kitchen – every single time!

And did we mention dessert? Taste of Home readers may have changing tastes but they still love their sweet stuff and there are fiver chapters worth here from a buttery Raspberry Swirl Coffee Cake to playful Monster Caramel Apples and Whoopie Pies (that's them on the cover) to a triple-layer Special Occasion Chocolate Cake that features ganache between the layers and on top of a decadent frosting.

The richness of that cake is a perfect metaphor for the richness of The Taste of Home Cookbook, New 3rd Edition. The book is a delectable blend of old and new recipes and is as much about the food as the feeling you bring to the table and the time you spend with others. At Taste of Home, we cherish our traditions and enjoy creating new ones. That's what The Taste of Home Cookbook, New 3rd Edition is all about: The ever-changing yet always friendly, welcoming, and accepting essence of home cooking in America – people who love to cook and cook to love.

All this and Taste of Home is still looking for more to include next time: We’re celebrating the new edition with the first Taste of Home Cookbook Recipe Contest. Enter your most-popular dish – tried-and-true staples your gang can't get enough – in any of seven categories (from appetizers and snacks to entrees to desserts) and let our judging panel give it a try! You could walk away a huge winner: One recipe will be chosen as the best from all contest entries and will win $25,000! Complete details and contest rules at http://www.tasteofhome.com/Contests/Recipe-Contests/The-Taste-of-Home-Cookbook-Recipe-Contest-Rules. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m., CST November 30, 2010.

ABOUT TASTE OF HOME

Taste of Home is a leading multi-platform producer of information on food, cooking and entertaining, serving home cooks with engaging media that capture the joy and comfort received from food made with love.  Taste of Home publishes three magazines (the flagship Taste of Home—America's largest cooking magazine, with a circulation of 3.2 million—Healthy Cooking and Simple & Delicious); top-selling bookazines; newsstand specials; and popular cookbooks. Tasteofhome.com is a top destination for engaging audiences with kitchen-tested recipes, how-to techniques, cooking videos and lively community forums.  Taste of Home is part of the North American Affinities group within the Food & Entertaining@RDA (The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.). More information can be found at http://www.tasteofhome.com.

Contact: Rebecca Silver | Krupp Kommunications | 212.886.6705 | [email protected]

SOURCE Taste of Home